H20: Road to the Future
by MysticRuins22
Summary: Set after Season 3. This story begins one month after graduation and chronicles the girls' lives as they attend university and cope with boy problems and family issues. Full summary inside. Mainly Cleo/Lewis
1. Chapter 1

**Title**- H20: Road to the Future

**Summary**- Set after season 3. This story begins one month after graduation and chronicles the girls' lives as they attend university and cope with boy problems and family issues, not to mention reuniting with a few people they would have liked to have never seen again. Mainly Cleo/Lewis with hints of Rikki/Zane and Emma/ Surprise.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own H20: Just Add Water nor am I making any profit off of this story.

**Author's Note**: I am not from Australia, nor have I ever been, so any information in this story is going by research that I have done. Because it never tells us where in Australia the girls live, I have decided that they live in a small suburb near Melbourne. Also, this chapter contains **major spoilers from season 3**, so if you've watched none of it, I suggest you not read this until you have.

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><p>"Emma!" Cleo screamed as she and Rikki ran onto the beach to get to their friend. Emma turned toward them with a smile and opened her arms for her two best friends in the world. When they all hugged, there was an instant connection and familiarity that had been absent since the day Emma left. All three of them had felt empty for an entire year, and now they finally felt whole again.<p>

Cleo withdrew first, wiping the tears from her eyes while Rikki squeezed the other blond once more before moving back and looking at the brunette. Emma too had tears in her eyes.

"Will you both stop it, already?" Rikki asked while nudging both girls. "We're all together now. No need for the water works."

"I know, Rikki." Cleo wiped her eyes once more. "It's just that it's been such a crazy year, and everything is finally all over and we have our best friend back."

Emma let one more tear fall, earning her a look from Rikki.

"Yeah, yeah, we all have had a hard year. But everything is done. Over. So quit with the tears, both of you."

"Rikki's right. We shouldn't be standing on the beach crying. I have a lot of stories to tell you two, and I know you've got things to tell me. We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Ah, that we do. And I know just the place to go."

Rikki grabbed Emma and Cleo by their arms and lead them on the familiar path to the one place where they could always relax…above water.

"Welcome to the Juicenet café!" Rikki announced as she and the other two came up to the ramp that lead to the inside of the establishment. Emma looked right at home, albeit a bit confused while Cleo looked more than a little surprised.

"Rikki, what happened to…'Rikki's'?" Cleo asked with a surprised pause at the fact that she was repeating her friend's name twice in one sentence.

"'Rikki's'?" Emma walked to the front of the entrance before turning back to the girls. "What is 'Rikki's'? This is the same café that we've always gone to."

"That is a story that should be told over a juice. Come, ladies." Rikki replied and entered ahead of the girls, who were still confused. Walking in, Emma was surprised to see that the set up for the Juicenet café was quite different than she last remembered it, while Cleo's surprise stemmed from the fact that it wasn't like the place _she_ remembered it being only a few weeks ago.

While Rikki ordered them all juices, Emma and Cleo found a booth far away from the other customers that decided to sit inside. As they sat, Emma and Cleo looked at each other smiling.

"I am just so happy to be back home. Aside from the renovations here, it's like nothing's changed, you know?"

Cleo shook her and gave a sheepish smile. "You have no idea how wrong you are about things not changing. There's so much we have to tell you about what happened after you left."

Emma frowned. She knew that look Cleo was giving her. It was the look that told her that whatever was going to be said, there was something that she wasn't going to like very much. And though Emma also had stories that she knew the girls wouldn't like, she wanted to start with something positive to lift their spirits.

"Here you go: A hot chocolate for Cleo and two mango splashes for us, Em." Rikki sat down once she's passed out the juices, earning her a pleased look from Emma.

"Wow, I see that things have changed. Since when have you become so considerate, Rikki?"

"Haha, don't get used to it. It's only because you've just got back. Everything will be back to normal very soon."

"Oh, I'll bet." Emma said with a smile and sipped her drink.

It was quiet for a few seconds, each of them sipping their juices and thinking about how they were going to begin the all important conversation. So much had happened to each of them, all involving danger and adventure.

Emma looked between the two of them and instantly saw that their stories would be much more detailed than hers, once again knowing that there would be portions that she would not enjoy.

"So Emma, how was traveling the world?" Cleo began, absentmindedly swirling her straw around in her cup. Rikki's head popped up to look at the blond across the table from her.

"Well, before I get started on my trip, I want to hear about what's been happening here. And I also have a bit of news for you. It's a surprise, though."

Rikki and Cleo looked at each other smiling at Emma's blushing cheeks before turning back to face her.

"Ah, let me guess; it's about a boy." Rikki concluded.

"Oh, how is Ash? We haven't seen him in ages!" Cleo asked, but Emma shook her head.

"It's a surprise. You'll see in a few minutes and I'll explain everything after that."

They both nodded, and Emma immediately encouraged them to tell her about the past year, leaving no details out. Cleo started first, going into how they met Bella at the beach and finding out that she had a tail. Emma was shocked, but not utterly surprised. She knew that there had to be more girls like them around the world, but she didn't think there would be another one in the area. Nevertheless, she listened raptly as Cleo told her about the moon pool and how the three of them found Will unconscious, and how he told a story of the water shooting from the wall and coming alive in the pool.

Emma now knew why Cleo looked a little concerned when she told Emma that things had changed. One of the things Emma missed most about being home was the moon pool. It was her place, as well as Rikki's and Cleo's. To think of anyone being down there worried her, but then to hear a story about the water was something else.

Cleo then got into telling her how they invited Bella to be part of the team, but that Will also came as part of the deal because she liked him so much. Rikki took over from there, explaining how obsessed Will had become with Mako island and the moon pool. When she told Emma about Will learning that all Cleo, Rikki and Bella were mermaids, Emma interrupted.

"So you mean to tell me that the only way he was going to help save Rikki's life was for Bella to tell him that you are mermaids?" Emma was angry, and Cleo and Rikki couldn't blame her for being so. After hearing it posed that way, it does seem very obsessive that Will would stoop that low just to find out something that wasn't any of his business.

"He didn't know I was in such trouble that it was violent, but I understand why you're angry. He did help save my life, though. I can't be angry about it for long."

Emma nodded, still a little angry, but urged them to continue to tell her the story regardless. Just as Rikki was about to begin again, Emma turned her attention from them to the entrance and motioned for someone to join them.

"Here's the surprise." Emma said, and when Rikki and Cleo turned around they came face to face with…

"Byron?" Cleo exclaimed while Rikki looked on in shock.

"Hey there Cleo. Rikki. Good to see you both again."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews. This quick note is to answer a question posed by one of my reviewers who asked about tears being water. The answer to that is that any fluid that is part of the body's natural function (like tears, saliva, etc.) does not have the ability to turn the girls into mermaids. You see this in the episode "To Have and To Hold Back", as well as back in season 1 in "Sink or Swim". However, I think in excess (like in "Love Potion #9) it could potentially be a problem, but that's somewhat of a gray area. Hope that answered the question!

**Contains major spoilers from Season 3.**

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><p>Emma moved over in the booth to allow Byron to sit next to her, and when he wrapped his arms around Emma and kissed her forehead, everything finally clicked.<p>

"When did you two get together?" Cleo asked excitedly, moving her drink out of the way so she could stretch her hands out on the table.

Byron smiled as he moved Emma closer to him. "Funny thing. I was with my family in Sweden during the holidays and we saw Emma and her family there."

"We got to talking and realized that we both still had really strong feelings for one another." Emma added.

"We only had a few days to hang out, her family moving around so much and all, so I asked her to be my girlfriend."

"And then two days before I was set to leave, I told him about my being a mermaid."

"And when she told me, I said 'Cool'. And on the last day she let me see her tail." He looked at Emma, and both smiled warmly at each other.

"Aw, that's so romantic. I am so happy for you two." Cleo said, completely gushing over the fact that Emma and Byron were a couple. She always liked Byron and somehow knew that if he ever found out about mermaids that he would be the least likely one to care or be inclined to tell anyone else.

"Yeah, yeah. Super romantic. The finishing each other's sentences thing, though? That's got to stop."

"Ah, same old Rikki. I knew she would come back after a while." Emma smirked.

"Oh, you'd better believe it." Rikki replied and threw a piece of napkin at her. "So Byron, if you know Emma is a mermaid, you should know that Cleo and I are too."

If Byron was the least bit shocked, he never let on. In fact, he merely smiled and pretended to zip his lips and throw away the key.

"I think it's so cool that you all are mermaids, and that you get to share it with one another. I always wondered why Emma would never swim with me when I asked her to, back when I joined the swim team. I remember watching her at meets and she was so good, then she stopped and I never got to see it again."

"Well, I'm sure you'll see us in action one day. You've just got to keep up with us." Emma squeezed his hand as he laughed, promising that he would try.

"Ok, so on with it. What happened after Will found out about you guys?" Emma urged on, wanting to hear more, and relaxed now that Byron had arrived and they knew that they were together.

Cleo continued the story, telling her how Will was a free diver and liked swimming with them. She went on to speak about how Bella had feelings for him, but that he was too dense to figure it out at the time, and that his sister Sophie was very inhospitable. Cleo then began to tell about her father's wedding to Sam when she started tearing up.

Rikki rubbed her back, reminding her that everything was alright now, and Emma looked concerned as she raised an eyebrow.

"What happened, Cleo?"

Cleo wiped her eyes with a napkin and took a deep breath. Even now, she hated thinking of that day; the day Lewis told her he was leaving.

"Lewis had applied to a marine biology school in America and I didn't know about it. He told me the day of the wedding that he'd been accepted and that he was leaving the next day."

"Oh no, Cleo." Emma was so sad for her friend. She couldn't remember a time that she'd known them where Cleo and Lewis had ever been apart. "That must have been awful for you."

"It was, but something good came out of it. He told me he loves me—"

"And always will." A voice called from behind Emma and Byron, causing them both to turn. Lewis stood there, his hands in his pocket, and his gaze moving between Emma and Cleo.

"Lewis, it's so good to see you!" Byron moved so that Emma was able to stand and hug him. Lewis hugged her back before shaking hands with Byron. Rikki too stood up so that the seating arrangements could be modified. Rikki entered the booth, followed by Cleo and Lewis on one side and Emma and Byron on the other.

As soon as Lewis sat, he kissed Cleo before both of his hands grabbed hers. Cleo couldn't keep the smile off her face, causing Rikki to fake-gag.

"Honestly, you all are pathetic!" She commented with a smile, and they all laughed. Leave it to Rikki to make sure the mood didn't get too lovey.

"Rikki, how are you and Zane?" Emma asked curiously, and at seeing Rikki's face darken slightly, she guessed the answer wouldn't be too good.

"I'll get to that part later." Emma nodded, and Rikki took over for Cleo and launched back into what happened after Lewis left. She continued to talk about the mysteries of Mako, going into what the sea tentacle looked like and explaining about the weird blue crystals they encountered, along with the magical properties they discovered. Rikki especially went in depth about how she felt connected to the tentacle after it listened to her, and how she was more connected to Mako than Cleo and Bella were because of it. Everyone, including Lewis listened attentively while Rikki continued, and soon Cleo took over for her.

When the topic turned to Ryan, Emma could feel tension.

"Who is Ryan?" Emma asked.

"Some loser who works as a park ranger. Not only was he a little too interested in the rocks on Mako, but he also thought he had a chance with Cleo."

Lewis's eyes widened as he looked from Rikki to Cleo.

"He's a geophysicist. It's his job to be interested in rocks. You'd better let me tell it from here, Rikki." Cleo insisted while rubbing Lewis's hands.

After Lewis had told Cleo he loved her and left for America, their contact with one another was very limited due to being in different time zones and the very limited use of their mobile phones. Because of this, there was a constant worry that- despite Cleo loving him- someone would come along that she would be more attracted too. He did his best to always make time for her through emails and video chats, and he was just glad that their combined efforts paid off and they were still together and more in love than before.

Cleo told Emma about details from when Ryan first looked at the rock, to his frequent trips to Mako, and then to his curiosity and discovery of the crystals.

"And this is where we get to Zane and one of the reasons why I called it off with him." Rikki finally said.

"You called things off with Zane?" Byron and Lewis asked simultaneously, both not expecting that.

"I didn't have a choice. He was being a jerk. If it wasn't him making out with Will's sister, it was him making the entire mermaid situation a huge joke. I couldn't deal with it anymore."

Lewis and Byron stayed quiet, sensing that Rikki really didn't want to discuss it any further. Emma wrapped her arm around Rikki's shoulders, though.

"I'm really sorry, Rikki. I knew Zane was a jerk, but not that much of one."

"Despite all that, he has been trying to make it up to her." Cleo added while looking at Rikki, who nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I know he's been trying. It's going to take me a while to even consider him a friend again. If we are meant to get back together, it won't happen for a very long time."

The table became silent again for a few brief seconds before Emma broke it with a question.

"So, when will I get to meet Will and Bella?"

"You won't. They're gone." Rikki answered. "Bella's parents move around a lot, and she told us that they had to go to Egypt. Will's parents move around a lot too, and he asked them if he could go with her. They just left a few days ago."

"Oh, alright. I actually have to confess that I probably wouldn't be thrilled to meet them. It just seems like they weren't as careful with the secret as we all were, and it put you in a lot of danger."

"I understand how you feel now. We both felt that way originally about Will." Rikki said.

"Yeah, but if he hadn't been so curious, then we might not have known about the tentacle or its intentions until it was too late." Cleo argued.

"What do you mean 'too late'?" Emma frowned. "What happened?"

The last part of the year was now revealed to Emma. Both Cleo and Rikki told everyone at the table about the crystal projection, the comet, and how all three of them stopped it from colliding with earth. By the time they finished, Emma's head was spinning, and Lewis and Byron just looked in awe.

"You know, I can't believe you girls." Lewis brought Cleo closer to him. "You all saved the world. Your powers are so much more than we ever thought."

"Yeah. Three girls saving the world? Sounds so hard to imagine." Byron added.

"It felt so…" Cleo didn't know how to describe it.

"…surreal." Rikki finished for her. "Like the mermaid side of us just took over and we were like…one with the universe or something. Everything was resting on our shoulders and we just… we somehow knew what to do."

"And that was our year." Cleo ended with a smile, causing everyone else to return it.

"Wow, that was some year you had. Shame that I missed it. I missed you girls so much." Emma looked at Cleo and Rikki as she spoke.

"Em, you have no idea how much we wished you were here." Rikki told her.

"Yeah, between missing you and Lewis, I was going crazy some days." Cleo added, and glanced at Lewis when she spoke.

"Well, we won't have to miss each other anymore. I'm home to stay, and I've finished up school while away, so that means we'll all be going to university together." Emma replied.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Rikki smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: Next chapter. Enjoy!

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><p>The rest of the day had been spent with Emma going back home to finish unpacking her things, Rikki going to finish a last minute university application, and Cleo going to work at the marine park. Because they had to leave, Emma promised that they would get together the next night for a slumber party at her house and she would tell them everything that happened on her trip.<p>

Now it was late evening, and Cleo had invited Lewis over to talk. Yes, he'd come back for her graduation, but the majority of the time after that had been spent between spending time with his family and doing a project he had over his summer holiday. He and Cleo had barely spent an hour together, and Cleo was determined to change that. After he said he loved her, her heart hadn't stopped fluttering since. It was as if those words changed her entire body's chemistry or something. She literally couldn't get him off of her mind.

She looked in the mirror again, triple checking her outfit. Though they weren't going anywhere, she still wanted to look nice for him. She decided on a black halter dress. She figured anything that matched her glasses would be a plus. She twirled around one last time before leaving the bathroom and tip-toeing back to her room.

Her dad, Sam and Kim had already gone to sleep. Cleo wanted to wait this late because she wanted to make sure she and Lewis were completely alone. Kim could literally turn up anywhere. A late night date was just what they needed to be able to talk and just be together.

She turned on the lamp and just began reading a book before she heard a faint knock on the door. When she opened it, she saw Lewis standing in front of her and admired him in the moonlight. He was in a simple polo shirt and khaki's, but the look he had on his face as he looked at her made him even more attractive.

"You're so beautiful, Cleo." He breathed, part of him not wanting to wake her family and the other part of him not being able to breathe from looking at her. She really did take his breath away. He took her in his arms and kissed her deeply before releasing her long enough for her to close the door behind him.

They walked back up to her room and she gently closed and locked the bolt on her door, thankful that Sam convinced her dad that she needed one. Usually this would have been a nice night to go to Mako island, but given the amount of people who had been there over the past year, she still didn't feel as safe as she once did there. Besides, she didn't feel like swimming just now.

Lewis sat on Cleo's desk chair while she sat on the edge of her bed. She watched as Lewis looked around the room, admiring all of her things, taking everything in. Words couldn't describe how much he'd missed Cleo while he was away. Every day he went without seeing her was like a stab through his chest. And every day, he worked harder than he ever had in his life in hopes of making the days go faster.

"So, where are you looking to go to university? Have you made your choice?" Lewis asked her, shaking the thoughts out of his head. He had something to tell her, and this would be one of the things he had to know in order to make the news more special.

"I don't know. It's between Victoria University and the University of Melbourne. I just can't decide. They're both great schools." She got up and walked over to her desk to pick up the two brochures before plopping back down on her bed. Holding both up to him, she gave a shrug.

"Where do you think I should go?"

"Well, I can't decide that for you, Cleo. Both are great schools with great programs, both are close to home… You said you might consider studying science or architecture?"

"Yeah." Cleo replied, remembering the conversation she'd had with him after graduation.

When he'd left for America, it seemed that she and Will had become the new scientists of the group, and she rather enjoyed it. It gave her a rush to examine things and come close to breakthroughs. She understood what Lewis loved about it so much. The architecture interest came from none other than Mako Island. The changes in the rock formations in the moon pool got her thinking of different structures around other islands, and soon that interest branched out into the structure of actual buildings, and how they could be improved. When she told Lewis all of this the day he came back, the pride in his eyes was enough to make her blush. Even without him saying it, she knew without a doubt how proud he was of her; how proud he _always_ was of her and her accomplishments. And it was this pride in her that had her ask him his honest opinion about where she chose to attend university.

"Which one are you leaning towards?"

"I think I'm looking more towards Melbourne. It's large and is a little closer than Victoria, meaning that I could still keep my job at the marine park on weekends."

Lewis nodded, understanding not only why she wanted to keep the job, but also why she felt like she had to. Even though fishing patterns had gotten a bit back to normal after the comet, it was still slim pickings sometimes, and Don Sertori along with other fishermen were being affected. And now that Cleo was going to attend university and would need extra money to get settled in, it would be extra stressful on the family.

Lewis rose from his seat to sit next to her on the bed and kissed the top of her head.

"Cleo, you know you have nothing to worry about, right?" He lifted her chin up with his finger to look him in the eyes. And though she nodded her head, her eyes clearly told him how worried she was.

He kissed her lips slowly, letting it linger before pulling back. If he was going to tell her his big news, now would be the perfect time to do it.

"Cleo, there's actually something I want to tell you." He got up from the bed and stood in front of her.

Cleo perked up and straightened her posture, giving him her undivided attention.

"As you know, I have two more years of being in the marine academy in America before I graduate."

Cleo's face fell slightly, remembering the fact that he was meant to leave in two short months. Regardless, she gave him a smile anyway. She instead insisted him to continue.

"Well, I had a talk with my advisor in America before the summer holidays. I let him know I was returning here to visit my family, and he told me that one of his colleagues was also on his way to this area. He's working on a project looking at various fish migrations and such. My advisor also told me that the professor would be in need of a student to accompany him, and that he would be here back and forth for a few years at least…"

Though Lewis was spelling it out for her, Cleo still couldn't trust herself to believe what she thought she was hearing. The smile on Lewis's face, however, urged her to ask him.

"So, you're telling me that…" She paused, her hands moving to cover her mouth.

"I'm here to stay. When I came home for your graduation, I came with Professor Jones. I have to go back to America once or twice every few months to stay for a few days, but I'll be back home indefinitely."

"But, what about school?" Cleo asked, not wanting to be excited if there was a chance that his graduation would be jeopardized. "What about classes?"

Lewis's smile widened. "I would be taking university level classes at the University of Melbourne. And the great thing about it is that it's almost like a foreign exchange program…within a foreign exchange program. My advisor told me that, while studying with Prof. Jones, I would have to keep up with my coursework. Prof. Jones's other office is centered at the University of Melbourne. I would take the allotted amount of classes, and do my research. If all goes accordingly, I will graduate in two years, _and_ maybe be on the same level as you and everyone else, albeit a few classes behind."

Cleo could no longer contain her excitement, launching herself into his arms. She literally couldn't believe what she was hearing. Lewis was back for good! They could be together and he would still be able to fulfill his dreams.

"Lewis, I am so happy for you!" Cleo couldn't help but let a tear escape, which Lewis promptly brushed off with his thumb before kissing her again.

"Now do you believe me when I tell you everything will be alright?" He asked seriously, his voice gentle and deep.

Cleo wrapped her arms around his sides tighter and gave him a smile before letting her head fall on his shoulder.

"Yes, I believe you."

"You'd better. I'm here for you, and I always will be. I love you, Cleo." He had begun swaying them when she put her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too, Lewis." She kissed the side of his neck and just let him continue to calm her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Here is the next chapter. I apologize for the formatting. The edit section of this site took out all of my borders, so all of the awesome formatting I had to separate scenes are now gone, leaving me no choice but to use the single horizontal line. If you have time, please review and tell me what you think. Thank you!**

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><p>The next morning, Emma, Rikki and Cleo decided now was a good time to visit Mako Island and let Emma see firsthand what happened to their beloved sanctuary. No, the damage wasn't so bad that it couldn't be somewhat restored, but it hadn't been touched since the comet incident, so everything still looked as raw as it had that night.<p>

When they all swam into the moon pool and dried off, Emma looked around, her concern eminent.

"Look what happened to this place. Is this blue rock the crystals you all were talking about?" Emma picked up a piece of the blue crystal, sitting next to Sophie's abandoned blue backpack.

"Yeah, these are the crystals." Cleo confirmed while walking around, her hand gliding along the destroyed rock formation.

"We know that Ryan, Sophie and Zane were here, but what happened to the rock, Cleo?" Rikki asked, turning to look at the brunette. Cleo, Bella and Rikki had gotten to the moon pool after it was blocked by boulders that night, so details of the actual events still weren't known to all of the girls.

"Ryan came over a few hours later. He said that he set off an explosion to get to the crystals. That's why the moon pool was blocked."

"Well, whatever did this, we can't leave it like this." Emma walked in front of the two girls. "Even if it's not as safe as it used to be, it's still our place. We owe it enough to clean up."

"Emma's right." Cleo picked up Sophie's empty bag. "Let's say we do this and then go get some juice?"

Rikki and Emma nodded and began the tedious task of hauling rocks and blue crystals out of the way.

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><p>(Cleo's house)<p>

Cleo walked in to see Sam and Kim cooking dinner, Don at the dining room table, and Lewis sitting on the couch with one of her father's fishing magazines. The door closing alerted her father to her arrival, and he promptly stood to greet her.

"Welcome home, princess. How was your day with the girls?"

"Great dad. It's so good having Emma back." She said while walking over and giving Lewis a kiss on the cheek and sitting next to him.

"Now now, don't get comfortable there. Dinner is just about ready." He shooed Lewis and Cleo to the table, and both obliged. Thinking about it, Cleo realized that this was the first time that all five of them would be sharing a meal together. Now that Sam was part of the family, things were different. Very family-like.

When Sam began serving the food, she addressed Lewis's plate first.

"Here you are, Lewis. I hope you enjoy. This is a dish I picked up in South Africa when I worked there." Looking at the white, creamy substance with a piece of bread next to it, all Lewis could do was give a forced smile of thanks. He and Kim shared a look, her eyes telling him that it did indeed taste the way it looked, and he gulped before picking up his fork.

When everyone was seated, the conversations began.

"So Lewis, how has that school been going for you?" Mr. Setori asked as he scooped more of the dish onto his plate.

"It's actually been going very well, Mr. S. I passed my first year with flying colours and am now going to be working with a professor specializing in fish migration patterns and microalgae. I actually just told Cleo, but due to this professor having such close contacts here, I've been asked to stay here and complete my schooling while helping him work on his projects."

"Really? That's spectacular, Lewis!" Mr. Setori exclaimed, genuinely happy for the boy.

"Yes Lewis, that certainly is incredible. Now you and Cleo won't have to worry about distance anymore." Sam also congratulated. Seeing Cleo the day of her wedding and every day Lewis was gone was heartbreaking for her. Seeing how her eyes lit up when Lewis came back was when she knew that the two of them were truly in love.

"Is that what you were telling Cleo last night while you were both locked in her bedroom?" Kim asked, a huge smile plastered on her face. If possible, the smile widened when she saw the looks on her father and Sam's faces.

Lewis looked panicked, while Cleo's facial expression was that of pure annoyance.

"Actually yes, Kim. That was exactly what Lewis was telling me last night. And yes, dad—" She looked towards her father, whose face was turning redder and redder as the seconds passed. "Lewis did come over last night. I locked my door because _someone_ in this house likes to snoop around!"

"I wouldn't have to snoop if there was nothing to hide!" Kim argued back.

"Now girls, that's enough! Kim, you should not have been eavesdropping on your sister."

"But dad—!"

"No 'buts'. And Cleo, you know you're not to have boys in your room after certain hours, even if it is Lewis, you understand?"

"Yes dad. I'm sorry."

"And I'm sorry too, Mr. S."

"It's alright. Now, let's just talk about something else and enjoy the beautiful meal that Sam's prepared for us."

Sam, who had been just as panicked as Lewis, smiled and the conversation then steered to Lewis's projects and how Don's fish business was doing.

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><p>(Emma's house)<p>

"—and Kim just blurted out that Lewis was over last night!" Cleo, who had just gotten to Emma moments ago was telling her what happened at dinner. Emma smirked as she finished laying the sleeping bags on the floor in the living room before turning to the brunette.

"That's just what younger siblings do. Elliot has even tried getting me in trouble with mum and dad over Byron. He's angry because they won't let him bring girls to the house."

"Elliot getting you into trouble? Now this I'll have to see to believe." Emma and Cleo turned to see Rikki walking into the living room, a duffel bag in hand.

'Well, believe it. He's not as sweet as he used to be. Don't be surprised if we have a little eavesdropper of our own tonight."

"Well, luckily we'll be talking about your adventures and not ours." Cleo reminded, thankful that Emma's stories more than likely wouldn't contain very much "mermaid action".

"What's been going on?" Rikki asked, having missed Cleo's recap of dinner.

"I invited Lewis over last night and Kim was just being…Kim."

Rikki nodded in understanding before unpacking her sleeping bag and spreading it next to the others on the floor. Since they'd already eaten with their own families, they immediately changed into sleepwear and spread out onto their sleeping bags. All three were facing one another, and in the middle of the circle was a bowl of potato chips and dip, courtesy of Emma's mother.

"So, let's have it. How was the trip?" Rikki began, taking the opportunity to grab a chip.

"Alright, so we first started out visiting the Philippines. One of my dad's business partners owns a home there, so we stayed for a few days. Then it was off to China for two months. Oh, it was so beautiful there. I feel like I've traveled all around it. While there, I had a tutor, and she even taught Elliot and I a fair bit of Cantonese."

Emma paused and rose to get a package that was sitting on one of the tables in the living room. When she got back, Cleo and Rikki saw that they were photos. Emma took out an isolated stack and handed them to the two.

"These were a few of the pictures I took while there."

"Wow, these are really beautiful, Em." Cleo admired one picture in particular that showed a very unique building in the background.

"Yeah, it looks like you had a great time there." Rikki chimed in, surfing through pictures as Cleo passed them to her.

"Nothing eventful really happened there, but after the two months we left again. Our next stop was Russia, and then immediately Poland. We stayed in Poland during the remaining winter months. Poland is absolutely breathtaking in the winter."

She brought out a new stack of pictures, and these were more interesting to the girls for one particular reason.

"Oh, no way. You got to see snow!" Rikki exclaimed. Being that they lived in Australia all of their lives, snow was not something that was experienced very much unless you traveled up to the mountains.

"More than saw it. It was so much colder than it has ever been here. Temperatures reached below -17 Celsius with wind chill. Mum and dad had to buy Elliot and I new winter jackets and everything while we were there. It was so much fun to actually play in, though."

Emma pulled out more pictures, and told them all about Egypt and Finland, which were the next two places she and her family traveled. When she got to Sweden, that's when she went into details.

"That's where you and Byron met up, right?" Cleo asked while giving the last pictures from Finland to Rikki.

"Yes, that's where we met up. It was so strange. It almost seemed so much like a fairy-tale. I was walking through a field. By this time it was Spring, and I remember I had on one of my new dresses. Elliot had met some friends and I was just enjoying the early morning. I bent over to pick some flowers, but before my hand reached them, someone had already grabbed one. When I looked up, there he was."

"Wow." Rikki's face was a mixture between amusement and nausea. "That is too sickening for my taste."

"Like I said, I was completely surprised. We sat in that field for a long time just catching up, and then we parted to see our own families. We met up again the next day, and then every day after that until it was time for him to leave. By then our families had spent a lot of time together and it all just felt right. And the night before he was leaving, he told me how he felt, and that he always thought there was something magical about me."

"Ah, and that's when you showed him your tail, right?" Cleo smirked.

Emma blushed and look down. "It seemed like the right time."

Rikki and Cleo laughed at Emma's shyness before the conversation began again.

"But wait, what happened to Ash?" Rikki inquired, and Emma shrugged.

"We both decided that we weren't meant to be with one another. We broke it off around the time I was in Poland. Have you all not seen him around? I thought he would have told you."

"No, we haven't seen him at all." Rikki answered.

"Well, we're still friends regardless. No worries." Emma smiled.

"So, after Sweden where were you headed next?" Cleo asked while handing back more pictures. Their family must have literally taken over 500 photos from the entire trip.

"After that, we headed to America and stayed there for the remaining spring months, and then briefly visited Chile before coming back home."

Emma then went into some of the deeper details of her trip, starting with the few troubling moments where she'd accidently changed while in public, to moments where she'd met people that, though they weren't mermaids, we still magical in their own rights. From everything she'd seen and been through the year of her travels, she didn't think she could put into words everything emotion she'd had and every good and bad feeling she'd come across. Perhaps more would come to her as time went on, but for now she just wanted to share the good with them.

"That sounds like it was an amazing trip." Cleo smiled.

"It was. The funny part was that—from what you said, Lewis and I would have been in America at the same time. I wish I'd known; we could have maybe called one another."

Cleo laughed. "Oh, you don't know how excited Lewis would have been if he were able to use his mobile with you."

Rikki rolled her eyes. "It's the little things in life, I suppose."

The rest of the night was filled with Cleo and Emma talking about their significant others, and Rikki filling Emma in on why she and Zane were no longer together. Later, after watching television and eating the last of the chips, they fell asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Here's the next chapter! This would have been out sooner, but I was away all last weekend and have had a few other responsibilities to take care of. The next chapter is already finished, so I hope to have that one out soon.

* * *

><p>Now that Emma was back and things were becoming normal again, the time flew by. Emma, Cleo and Rikki made frequent trips to Mako island and had restored it as best they could to its former glory. Now that that task was completed, all that was left for the remaining few days was to concentrate on getting ready for university.<p>

As fate would have it, Cleo, Emma and Rikki all got accepted into the University of Melbourne and would naturally attend together. And with Lewis present as well, it was more than Cleo could ever ask for. Now that the application process was over, and the girls' requests to be dorm-mates sent, all that was left was to pack.

"Are you sure you need all of this, Cleo? You know you're meant to be coming home after the first weekend or so." Lewis had just zipped up another one of the growing mound of suitcases and carried it to where the others sat near the door.

"Of course. One suitcase is holding all of my clothes, one for shoes and decorations, and the other holding my new fish tank."

Lewis gave her a look. "Fish tank?"

Cleo mirrored it. "Yes." She said slowly. "Hector can't stay here by himself. Not with the danger of being near Kim."

Lewis smiled and kissed her cheek, loving how adorable she was.

"Have you packed yet?" She asked him while sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Not yet. I figure I'll only take a few things up and then bring the rest after a week or so."

"Well, I'll help you pack whenever you're ready." He nodded in thanks and sat down, happy that the task of helping her pack her things was now finished.

"What do you want to do now?" She asked as she propped her feet onto the suitcase closest to her.

"I don't know." Lewis leaned in the chair he was currently sitting in. "Would you like to take a boat ride?"

"No." She smiled apologetically. "I'm not in much of a mood to be near water right now." Just as she'd spoken, her eyes lit up.

"Hey, why don't we attend the annual end of summer festival? It's just started last night."

"I figured that would be something you'd want to do." Lewis smiled. "I was actually going to take you there on a date tonight."

Cleo blushed and her eyes met his. She still couldn't believe that he could make her feel butterflies even after all of the times they'd gone out.

"I would like that a lot." She replied.

"I know you would." He whispered. His eyes were gentle, yet penetrating, and Cleo couldn't turn away even if she'd wanted to. Lewis always had a way of mesmerizing her, and she knew if she asked him, he would say the same about her.

Something in their relationship was changing, and it was a change that they were both anxious for, as well as terrified of. Through whatever reservations they had, it was something that both knew without a doubt was not an unwelcome feeling. The feeling made the air around them seem thick, and their skin felt electrified from the urge to be near one another. And just as that feeling began, it was interrupted by Cleo's door opening suddenly.

"Cleo." It was Sam. "There's someone downstairs to see you."

Cleo and Lewis jumped at the interruption, the sensation both felt all but forgotten. Cleo recovered quickly however when she saw the look on Sam's face.

"Is something wrong, Sam?" She asked while standing and walking over to the other woman. "You're looking pale."

Lewis stood as well, coming up behind Cleo to examine Sam's facial expression.

"It's nothing, sweetheart. Just come downstairs." Sam turned to walk away, leaving Cleo and Lewis to give each other a confused look before promptly following her. When they got downstairs, Cleo couldn't believe her eyes.

"Mum?"

"Hello, darling." The former Mrs. Sertori rose from her seat on the couch and took her oldest child in her arms.

"Mum, it's so good to see you. What are you doing here?" Cleo asked while looking towards her father and Sam. Kim was downstairs also and looked extremely happy. The divorce of her parents was hard on all of them, but Kim was especially hurt, which was the main reason why she contested Don and Sam's wedding so much.

Another reason why Kim was hesitant of allowing Sam into their world was because their mother still kept in touch, though could not visit as often due to living a longer distance away and working a full time job. Seeing her mother here now, and seeing how Kim responded to her, it was no wonder that Sam was looking pale.

Cleo's mother released her daughter. "What? Do I need a reason to see my girls?" She paused to give Lewis a hug. "Besides Cleo, you're heading to university in a few days and I want to help you get settled into your room. Have you packed all of your things?"

"Yeah, they're all upstairs." Cleo turned toward the staircase as she spoke.

"Lovely. I took off a few days from work, so you let me know whenever you're meant to leave." Cleo smiled and nodded before moving to sit next to Kim on the couch.

"And Lewis, how are you?" She smiled at him.

"Great. I'm doing just great."

"That's wonderful to hear." She patted him on the back before turning her attention back to everyone in the living room.

"Well, I'm off. Still need to get a few of my things unpacked." She went to get her purse.

"Where are you staying, mum?" Cleo asked as she and Kim both stood.

"I'll be staying with your grandparents. Actually, would you both like to come with me? Your grandparents haven't seen you in ages."

"Yes!" Kim replied with enthusiasm. "Just let me go upstairs and grab my jacket."

Cleo's mother smiled before giving Don a serious look.

"It's alright with you if I bring them along, right?"

"Oh, fine by me. I don't think Sam had anything planned, right sweetheart?" He asked while picking up one of his fishing magazines.

Sam looked hesitant. "Well, actually—"

Kim bounded down the stairs, nearly bowling Lewis over, purse and jacket in hand.

"I'm ready. Are you coming, Cleo?" Kim asked genuinely and Cleo nodded. She, more than anyone, knew how important this was for Kim. Being separated from their mother was not easy on either of them, and having this mother-daughter trip with her and being around familiar people was just what Kim needed. If Cleo wanted to be truthful, it was something she needed as well.

"I'll go get my jacket. Oh, and mum?" Cleo turned back to her mother just before ascending the stairs. "Is it alright if I leave a little early? Lewis and I have made plans."

"Of course, Cleo. No worries. You're welcome to join us as well, Lewis." She offered, but Lewis merely shook his head.

"No, I think I should head home and start packing. Thank you for the offer, though." He smiled one last time at Cleo's mum before heading back up to Cleo's bedroom.

He'd entered just in time to see her zipping her jacket.

"My grandparents don't live far. Do you want me to call you before I leave?"

"I remember where your grandparents live. They're right down the street from where the festival will be taking place this year. If you call me, I'll meet you at their place and we can walk there together."

"Are you sure?" She picked up her bag and moved to stand in front of him. "It will be a longer walk for you."

Lewis smiled. "Yeah, but it won't be a proper date if I don't get to pick you up, will it?"

"No, I suppose it won't." Cleo smiled and kissed him lightly on the lips before walking passed him out of her room and down the stairs. When she descended the stairs, Kim and her mother were on their way out the door. Lewis passed her on the stairs and exited after saying a quick goodbye to everyone.

"Come on, slow poke!" Kim called to Cleo playfully, earning a very surprised look from both Don and Sam. If Cleo was fazed, she didn't show it.

"Coming, Kim. Bye Dad, bye Sam! I'll be late coming home tonight!"

"Have a good time, girls!" Don yelled as the door closed, leaving him and Sam alone for the afternoon.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Other characters will be gradually brought in as the chapters move along, so I'm really excited about that. Please leave a review if you have a chance.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:** Thank you to all of those who have reviewed so far. You make me smile :) In response to a reviewer who let me know the general vicinity of Australia where the girls live, thank you very much! I will be sure to use that info in future stories of mine. However, because I've already researched and completed so much of this one already, I probably won't be changing anything around.

I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think!

* * *

><p>All while visiting with their mother and grandparents, Cleo saw a drastic change in Kim's demeanor. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Kim was truly happy. When they'd decided to have dinner on the grill for the night, Kim was the first to offer help, and even enlisted Cleo's help when she needed it. Together, the two sisters had cleared the patio, set up the table and chairs, and even prepared a few side dishes. And once dinner was served, Cleo and Kim couldn't remember laughing so hard with one another. It was probably one of the best dinners she had ever had.<p>

And Cleo was happy. Yes, she and Kim got into arguments that could sometimes turn explosive, but they really did love one another deep down. If there was anything Cleo could do to keep the smile she was seeing now on her little sister's face, she wouldn't hesitate to do it.

"Cleo, can you help me with this?"

Cleo snapped out of her thoughts and put down the dishes she was about to take back into the house to walk over to Kim. Grabbing the other side of the plastic table cloth, she helped her neatly fold it.

"Thanks. Oh, and great job with the mashed potatoes. I loved them." Cleo looked at her and smiled, but then her face became serious.

"Kim?" Kim looked up at her. "Can we talk?" Cleo sat down on a blanket on the grass, patting the spot next to her.

"Sure." She sat, smoothing down her skirt. "What is it?"

"Are you happy at home, Kim?" Though it seemed like a yes or no question, Kim immediately saw the meaning in it. There were quite a few meanings in the question, really. Was she happy at home? Was she happy when it was just Cleo and her father? Was she happy with Sam? Would she be happy elsewhere?

"No." She answered honestly, lowering her head to stare at the blades of grass around her feet. "I'm trying, though."

"What's making you unhappy? Is it Sam, or because dad is working later hours? Is it me?" Cleo asked the last question hesitantly, hoping it had nothing to do with her.

Kim looked up at her. "It's all those things, really. I feel like we haven't been a proper family in ages. First mum moves away, and we barely hear from her because of her stupid new job, then dad works late all of the time…And then there's Sam, who's moved all of her freaky things into the house and had left no more room for anything that used to be there."

A tear made its way down Kim's cheek. "And now you're leaving to go to university. Who will I be left with?"

"Kim…" Cleo tried moving closer to the blond, but she just backed away in response.

"Things have been so nice tonight, haven't they?" Kim wiped her eyes as she spoke. "For the first time in a while, we've gotten to have dinner that wasn't just heat and serve, and didn't have any weird foreign name. Mum was there to actually help us cook, and grandmum was there to make her special vanilla slice."

"Kim…" Cleo looked at her.

"And things didn't go so fast, you know? We all took our time with everything, and we ate slowly, and we talked slowly too."

When Cleo moved closer to Kim this time, the younger girl didn't resist. Cleo hugged her tightly and let her go so she could look her.

"Has this been bothering you all this time? Have you been hurting this much?" When Kim nodded, Cleo frowned. "Why didn't you tell me, Kimmie? Did you not think I would listen to you?"

"It's not that. It's just you always seemed so okay with everything going on. When dad met Sam, you had no problem with it. When Sam and dad decided to get married so suddenly, you helped plan the wedding! And when she started moving in all of her things and changing the house around, it's like anything that mum and dad purchased together all went into the garage. There was nothing left of her, and you were okay with that too. If you were going to be alright with everything that happened, I didn't want to talk to you."

"Kim…you couldn't be any farther from the truth." Cleo sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Kim's face looked a mix between confusion and disbelief.

"I wasn't alright with any of it. Do you think it was easy for me to see dad go from an engagement to a marriage in a few short days? Or to walk into the house and see all of Sam's things and no remnants of mum's things anywhere? I was affected too, Kim. It hurt. When I walk into the house now, sometimes I don't even know where I am. We used to walk in and see the family photo of all four of us on the side table, and mum's knitting on the couch next to dad's magazines. Anytime either of us had a bad day, we—especially you—used to sit on the chair and curl under the red blanket that mum made for us and instantly fall asleep."

Cleo paused to look at Kim's face. Seeing her expression soften, she continued.

"But even feeling that way, what was I supposed to do, Kim? I could never walk up to dad and tell him he couldn't have happiness because it made me uncomfortable. And Sam? She's such a nice person, and she really does love dad."

"I know that, Cleo." Kim's face hardened again, but Cleo was happy to see that even Kim knew the truth of Don and Sam's love.

"I know what you mean when you said that everything has been moving fast, and you're right."

"And now you're headed to university." Kim scoffed, getting to the root of the entire conversation.

"Kimmie, listen to me." Cleo moved so she was kneeling in front of her. When Kim looked up, she had a frown plastered on her face.

"Kim, do you know what just happened?" Kim looked at her oddly, shaking her head.

Cleo smiled. "We just had a serious conversation without arguing or being angry with one another."

"Yeah, so?" Kim still looked at Cleo with her eyebrow raised, but Cleo saw right through her and took her hands.

"I'm your big sister, Kim. I will always be here for you, and I'll always be on your side. University isn't going to change that."

"How would you know that?"

"Because I won't let it." Cleo smiled. "Now that you've told me how you feel, we can work together to ensure that you don't feel that way anymore. When I'm away, you can call me anytime you want."

"I can?"

"Yes. And if things seem really overwhelming, and you feel like you can't be home, you can come stay with me."

"Stay with you? And those freaks you call best friends? I think I'll pass." Kim smirked, but her sparkling eyes showed Cleo she was only joking.

"You can also come here and stay with grandmum and grandpa." This time when Cleo moved to hug Kim again, the younger girl responded. "You'll always have somewhere to go and someone to talk to, Kimmie. And I know with time you'll get used to the house being the way it is. We both will."

"Thanks, Cleo." They pulled away and stood, picking up the blanket as they headed inside. "And you know, I'll get used to the house a little faster once I've turned your room into my own personal closet space." Cleo stopped walking and Kim began laughing as she heard the brunette growl her name under her breath.

/-/-/-/

(Emma's house)

"Thanks so much for helping me out, Cleo." Emma said as she stood from where she had been sitting on her luggage in order to close it properly. Cleo let out an exaggerated sigh of exhaustion as she too stood, causing Emma to laugh. It was only one bag, but it was stuffed with so many belongings that it took both girls to shut it.

Picking up the bag, Emma and Cleo made their way downstairs to put it next to the front door. Emma, true to her nature, had every single thing she planned to bring to university coordinated and packed. She'd even made a schedule, chronicling every detail from the minute her father arrived home that night to the first night the girls arrive in their dorm room. Cleo just shook her head with a smile.

"Well, I'd better go. I promised I would help Lewis pack and then I should get home and help Sam with dinner."

"Aw, your dad working late again?" Emma asked, her smile dropping at seeing the confirmation on her friend's face before she even said it.

"Yeah." Cleo face fell. "It's just frustrating. I wish there was something I can do. His job is so important to him, but with the 'fish freeze'—" Cleo made air quotes. "—as dad calls it, things just aren't what they used to be."

"What about Sam? She has a proper job."

"Dad doesn't want her help. He thinks it's his responsibility to look after us financially."

Emma put her hand on Cleo's shoulder. "I'm sure Sam will get him to change his mind. She seems like a very level-headed person. Don't worry about it."

"I'll try not to. Thanks, Em."

"Anytime." She walked Cleo to the door and opened it. "Oh, and don't forget; we should meet Rikki later and talk about anything else we may need for the room."

"I remember. See you at 4:30?"

"Sounds good."

"What's happening at 4:30?" Emma and Cleo turned to see Byron heading up the stairs to the door. He stopped next to Cleo and nodded his head in greeting.

"Hey Byron. Nothing much; we're just meeting Rikki later to talk about our room at Melbourne." Cleo replied. "I'm going now. See you later."

Emma and Byron waved at her before both walked into the house. Walking to the couch, they sat down.

"So, how've you been, gorgeous? Did you miss me?" Byron asked sweetly, flashing her one of his typical smiles. Byron had been away at a week long summer swim conditioning camp.

Emma smiled and moved closer to him. "Of course I missed you. How was the camp? Have you improved your time?"

Byron laughed at how Emma's entire demeanor changed when she talked about swimming.

"Yeah. I'm faster by at least 2 seconds. Coach said if I keep up I could have a chance at making the team at Melbourne as a freshman.

"Ah, that's great news!" Emma beamed at him, truly admiring the man he'd become. A smirk appeared on her face as a thought came to her.

"Care to show me what you've learned?" She stood.

"I can't right now. Open swim isn't until later today." He leaned back on the couch, motioning for her to sit back down.

"Who said anything about the pool? My dad has a motor boat on the peer. We can take it out far out enough away from people." She lowered her hand for him to grab and pulled him up from the couch. It took him a second for realization to kick in.

"Really? I get to see you swim, too?" He asked, genuine excitement present on his face. The one thing he'd missed since Emma became a mermaid was watching her swim. It was what first attracted him to her.

She laughed. "You'll be able to see me…if you can keep up. I wasn't the star of the swim team for nothing." She kissed him and winked, walking towards the front door.

"Ah, sweet. This is going to be exciting!" Byron ran after her, making sure to shut the front door behind him.


	7. Chapter 7

While Emma and Byron were out swimming, and Cleo and Lewis packing, Rikki was hard at work at the Juicenet café. After "Rikki's" had gone under, Wilfred had come back and made her and Zane an offer they couldn't afford to refuse. As a result, he bought back the space and other amenities in the café, and paid off any remaining debt the two teens had gotten themselves into. By the end of it, they were out of debt, but didn't have a penny to their names in profit.

While Zane wasn't suffering from the loss, Rikki wasn't as fortunate. As soon as Wilfred put up the "Help Wanted" sign, she was the first to meet with him for an interview. If she wanted to be sure she would be able to attend university with Emma and Cleo, she had a lot of money to make before the first university payment was due. And because she only had a few more days of working before it was reduced to weekends only, she was literally in the café for as many hours as Wilfred would allow her.

"Rikki."

Rikki looked up from clearing a table to see Zane walk toward her. She still wasn't really speaking to him, even after over 2 months of them being broken up. From the look on his face at seeing the coldness in her eyes, he was still deeply affected by how things ended between them. More so, he was even more affected by all of the work she'd been doing the entire summer to secure her finances.

"What do you want, Zane? I didn't want your pity money earlier this week and I certainly don't want it now, so unless you plan on purchasing a juice, you're wasting my time." She began walking away, but his body blocked hers.

"Is this what it's going to continue to be like? We can't even speak properly to one another?" He leaned closer to her, causing her to bend slightly backwards to keep some distance between them. "How many times do I have to apologize before I can get you to hear me?"

Rikki heard the desperation in his voice, and even the sincerity. Thinking back on everything that happened in the last year, she knew that a lot of his actions had less to do with being sincerely inconsiderate and more to do with the stress of dealing with their business going bankrupt and his father's added pressure of refusing to offer any kind of paternal advice. But even knowing all of this, she still couldn't get over him not being there for her when she needed him most. It was that kind of betrayal that kept her and her father so closed off from everyone else.

She sighed and moved around the other side of the table away from him. "You still don't get it, Zane. I won't 'hear you', as you call it, until you stop apologizing for what you want instead of for what you did. If you don't understand that, we won't ever have much else to say to one another."

She walked away, leaving Zane at the deserted table watching her leave.

/-/-/-/

The days seemed to fly by for Rikki, Emma and Cleo. Aside from making trips to Mako and soaking up the rest of their vacations, they were hard at work—Rikki and Cleo especially— getting everything together before they were set to leave. And now that tomorrow was the big day, things were starting to hit them.

"I can't believe we leave tomorrow for Melbourne." Cleo said to herself as she took a bite of her food. It was dinner time; the last dinner she would have with her family before university. Lewis was at her side, his hand on her leg, while her father, mother, Kim and Sam sat around her. Having all of her family there with her before she was to take that big step in her life really touched her.

"You can't believe it? I for one am in shock." Mr. Sertori looked at her, and the tightness of his face told everyone there that he was holding back his emotions. "It was only just yesterday that I was taking you to your first day of preschool…"

Sam moved to put her hand over his, but instantly pulled it back to her lap when he instead reached out for Bev's hand.

"I can't believe it either, sweetheart." Bev spoke as she squeezed Don's hand briefly before letting go. "Your father and I want you to know how proud we are of you."

Cleo smiled and looked at the both of them. "Thanks mum and dad."

Bev looked from Cleo to Lewis and repeated the sentiments, which he graciously accepted before clearing his throat and standing.

"Thank you all so much for dinner, but I'd better be going now." He pushed his chair out and picked his plate up to put into the sink.

"It's about time." Kim said, smirking.

"Kim!" Mr. Sertori and Bev scolded, earning them an innocent look from the blond.

"Do you have to leave now, Lewis? I was about to serve dessert." Sam finally spoke, a warm smile on her face.

"Yeah, I really should. I told my parents I would be home in a little while to spend time with them before we all leave tomorrow. Actually, they asked if Cleo would like to come with me."

Cleo looked from Lewis to her parents. "I'd love to. Would that be alright?"

"I have no problem with it. Do you, Bev?" Mr. Sertori looked to his former wife.

"That sounds fine, Cleo. But be sure to come home a little early tonight. Wouldn't want you tired tomorrow. Have a good time. And Lewis, give my best to your family."

"Thanks mom and dad." Cleo thanked and began clearing off her dishes from the table. Though they were rarely there, Cleo loved visiting Lewis's house and his family. And considering tonight was their last night before they took such a big step in their lives, Cleo thought it appropriate to visit them.

/-/-/-/-/

"Do you want me to put this in the refrigerator with the rest of the leftovers, mum?" Emma asked as she and Elliot cleared the remnants of dinner from the table. It was the last night before Emma met with the rest of the girls at Melbourne and- like Cleo- she too had an intimate dinner with her family.

"Yes Emma, you can put that with the rest of the things. And Elliot, put those dishes in the sink for now. You can wash them after we've had dessert." Emma's mother instructed as she bustled around the kitchen, setting up the dessert tray. Emma's father had brought home Emma's favorite dessert especially for the occasion and they were all to eat in the family room while watching a movie.

Elliot complied, but paused as he heard the doorbell. Unsure of whether to answer it, he gave a questioning look to Emma. Emma walked over and motioned for him to complete his task and she went to the door to answer it. Aside from wanting to be the responsible one, she was also curious of who would be at the door so late in the evening. Her parents rarely had visitors and Elliot's friends had been over the house earlier in the afternoon. And unless there was a crisis pertaining to the moon pool or her secret, there was no reason for Rikki, Cleo or Lewis to be over either.

The doorbell rang again, and Emma shook the thoughts out of her head before cautiously opening the door a few inches. Her expression turned to one of extreme surprise and suspicion when she saw Zane standing on the opposite side. Hands in his pockets and his face downcast, Emma knew that this visit was far from a social call.

"What are you doing here, Zane?" She asked, moving so that her body blocked the gap between the open door and the wall. He looked up long enough to make eye contact with her, and the look he gave was one that almost made Emma forget who she was actually looking at.

"I need to speak to you." His voice was low, and his head still downcast. Emma had no idea what to think, and was about to tell him to leave when he uttered the one word she knew he never used unless he was truly serious.

"Please."

He cast his eyes upward again, and all Emma could do was nod and move aside for him to enter. Once he was inside, Elliot- who had been watching attentively from the kitchen- resumed his work while their parents greeted Zane from the living room.

"It's good to see you, Zane. How have you been? Gotten into any new business ventures?" Mr. Gilbert asked as he shook Zane's hand. Zane seemed to snap himself out of his mood long enough to give the man an answer and hug Mrs. Gilbert before resorting back to his previous behavior. Emma watched the exchange briefly while walking toward the three of them and placing her hand on Zane's arm.

"Is it alright if I excuse myself for a few minutes? Zane offered to help me with a last minute university class choice."

"Alright, that's fine. Zane, we were just about to watch a movie. Just a small family get together before Emma leaves for Melbourne tomorrow. Would you like to join us?" Mr. Gilbert offered, earning an enthusiastic smile from his wife.

"Oh yes, Zane. You are more than welcome to join us. You and Emma have basically grown up together. We consider you part of our family as well."

Zane looked up at them and gave a smile that Emma could see did not reach his eyes.

"I'm flattered, but I don't think I'll be able to stay very long. Thank you for the offer." He responded politely, and Emma's parents gave him reassuring smiles before leaving him and Emma alone in the doorway. With one slight movement of Emma's hand on his arm, the two moved to walk upstairs to her room.

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><p><strong>That's all for this chapter. Drop me a review to let me know what you think!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Hi! This update has taken longer than expected, but here it is! This is probably my favorite chapter so far.**

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><p>Zane entered first, being already familiar with the layout of the Gilbert home, and Emma followed a few seconds after and shut the door.<p>

"What's this about, Zane?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

"Do you have to always talk to me like that? Like my mere presence offends you?"

He looked at her, something akin to disgust in his tone and turned around to look out her window. Emma stared at his back, not sure how to take his tone, and not liking the small hint of an insult behind it.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because every time I see you, you can't help but do something selfish."

"Yeah, well I'm coming to you now for help. I came here to talk to you, and for you to listen to me. But I suppose you don't remember when we actually used to be close, do you?"

"Don't twist this around to be about me."

Zane let out a heavy sigh and turned around to sit on the window seat so he was facing her. If both wanted to be honest, they had no idea how they got to the point where they were basically rivals at best. There was once a time where they were friends. Good friends. Being that their fathers were business partners, they spent a fair amount of time with one another when they were younger. And with Zane being only a year older than her, compared to the children of their fathers' other associates, they had been closer with one another than they had with the younger children. That closeness changed once they were in high school, and all but diminished when Zane began acting like an irresponsible, money-flaunting, self-entitled person. It wasn't until Zane learned their secret that Emma started thinking that maybe he was starting to become the friend that she could one day trust again.

Emma walked toward where he sat and took a seat on the edge of her bed directly in front of him. She could see the dark sky behind him, and wondered by his wind-tossed hair whether he came straight from home or if he'd walked around for a bit beforehand. Looking at his face once more, she let out a sigh.

"Fine; I'm sorry for the way I asked before. But you can't say it wasn't justified."

"I agree." He looked up, and a hint of a smile graced his lips before disappearing again. "And I'm sorry for coming here so late, especially unannounced. I know this is the night before you leave and you want to be with you family…"

"It's fine." She brushed the concern off, and instead concentrated on trying to get him to meet her eyes. "What's going on, Zane?"

As soon as the words left her lips, he stood abruptly, like it took all of the energy he had to keep still for as long as he had.

"It's Rikki. She won't talk to me." He began pacing around her room, running his hand through his already disheveled hair. "I mean, when she broke up with me I deserved it. I know that, and I accept that. But after a while I thought we could have put that behind us so that we could go back to being friends, or at least a shadow of that. If we were still talking, then I know she would have an easier time forgiving me and then I could ask her for another chance. But these past few weeks…"

He stopped pacing and looked down at the floor.

"She will barely even look at me, much less talk."

"Maybe she's just been busy. She hasn't said much to Cleo and I either. She's been putting in a lot of time at the café so she has money for school." Emma spoke softly, hoping that her words gave him some sort of comfort. He wasn't the only one who could barely get in touch with Rikki. It seemed that the only times she saw the other blonde was when they made trips to Mako, or when she visited the café.

"It's not just that. She isn't just working there to have play money. She's doing it because she's not sure how she'll afford it. She hasn't heard from the loan company yet about how much she'll get in aid, and her father has told her that if they can't come up with the rest of the money then she'll have to take the year off."

Emma wished she could say she was surprised, but she knew as well as everyone else that Rikki's financial situation had never been very good. What she was surprised at, however, was how much Zane knew about it.

"If you and Rikki haven't been speaking, how do you know all of this?"

Zane had the decency to look ashamed. "I've had some friends of mine keep an eye on her. One of them overheard the conversation between her and her dad a few weeks ago."

Emma looked scandalized, and Zane put his hands up to delay the lecture she was going to give him.

"I know it was wrong to spy on her, but what else could I do? Every time I've tried to approach her all I've gotten is silence or her turning her back to me. I'm out of options."

"You know the sure fire way to get her to talk to you again? Actually let _her_ do the talking. You've just said she's got a lot on her plate. Don't you think she's got bigger concerns to worry about without you adding to them? She just needs her space."

Zane breathed a heavy sigh, but Emma wasn't finished with him yet.

"And how dare you spy on her?"

"I'm trying to help her!"

"How?"

Zane sat down on the window seat again. "I know she's worried about money to pay for school. And I know she won't take a handout under any circumstances. So, I wanted to talk to her and maybe... trick her into telling me how much more she is trying to raise so that I could match it by telling her that I checked the old accounts from 'Rikki's' again. Maybe tell her I miscalculated something and that we had some left over cash to split."

"And you don't think she would be even a bit skeptical about that?" Emma raised an eyebrow, but Zane shook his head.

"No, she wouldn't. It would explain why I keep asking her questions, and it would also make sense if I told her that I had my dad's personal accountant check everything over and he said there was an error on our part. I could say something along the lines of having money not accounted for properly by one of our financial backers or whatnot. I don't know, but I would think of something."

"And whatever money you would give her would just be yours?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know, Zane. You know what she would do if she ever even found out about you making this plan, let alone executing it? She'd never trust you again."

"She doesn't trust me now. I wouldn't necessarily be losing anything, would I?"

They stared each other down, each willing the other to reconsider their opinions. After a few seconds, Emma looked away and moved to sit next to Zane on the window sill. Zane was caught off guard, but relaxed, remembering how comforting having her around used to be when they were friends.

"I know you don't think it's a good idea, but unless I say her father inherited a large sum of money, I'm out of options."

"I understand, Zane." Emma maneuvered to the side, leaning her back against the side of the wall so she was facing him. "Look, I may not know what happened to get you two to the place you're at right now. But I do know that if Rikki isn't speaking to you, that means she's still hurting. That's not something anyone but her can fix."

Zane just lowered his head to his hands and took a breath.

"What happened that day? The day you kissed Sophie?" Emma asked, and Zane looked up at her, moving his body position to match hers on the opposite side of the seat. "I've only heard Cleo and Rikki's version, but obviously there is more than just one side."

"That's just it. I didn't want it!" Just the memory of that day made him furious, not just for Sophie's manipulations, but of how stupid he was to believe her and not his girlfriend.

"What didn't you want?"

Emma reached over and put her hand on the one of his that was currently clenching around his knee. That small gesture…just that little bit of contact was enough for Zane to open up about every detail since Sophie came to work for him. He talked about everything from his feelings about the café, to him and Rikki arguing over accounts, to Rikki dealing with the water tentacle and how he couldn't bring himself to be bothered with it due to all of the stress he was under to keep his business above ground. It felt good to tell someone about all of his feelings, especially those pertaining to his father. Emma had been around the man enough to know the kinds of pressure he constantly put on Zane. She was probably the only one he could talk to about his father. He couldn't even talk to Nate about it, no matter how loyal his best friend was.

By the time he had finished his story, the clock read way past ten o'clock pm. Glancing at it, then back at her, he stood from his place.

"I've stayed way later than I intended to. I have to go."

Emma stood also, walking to the door to open it. She nodded and began walking out into the hall when his hand grabbing her wrist stopped her.

"Emma…" She looked up at him. "I…thank you for listening. I know a lot has changed between us, but…just, thank you."

Emma nodded. "It's fine, Zane."

She looked him in the face again and bit her lip. He still had a hold on her wrist, but tightened the grip at seeing her expression. They might not have gotten along in a few years, but he still knew her habits well enough to know that she had something to say and was debating whether or not to say it. Emma looked down at her arm before looking up again.

"I was just going to say…well, I wanted you to know that I don't hate you. There are still a lot of things about our friendship that we haven't talked about…"

"You don't have to say anymore. I understand what you mean. I just want to thank you again, and wish you good luck at Melbourne."

"Thanks."

They smiled at each other, whether for formality's sake or what, they didn't know. But a shadow of the former bond they once shared was present, and that was something that was worth being optimistic about.

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><p><strong>Hope you are enjoying. Please review and let me know what you think so far!<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **I apologize for the long delay. I try to have multiple chapters written before I post to the site. Since I've written so much since my last update, I'm also going to post the next chapter today as well.

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><p>"Come on, girls! You don't want to be late!" Mr. Sertori yelled into the house. Leaning against the jam-packed car, he pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. The day had just begun, and already he could tell it would be a very long one. It started out with him having to single-handedly wake the entire house up, make everyone breakfast, send Kim off to school, and lug all of Cleo's bags down the stairs and into the car. He didn't think he could be any more tired, but that changed when Emma's family's car pulled up next to him and he got a look at Mr. Gilbert. From the bags under the man's eyes and his normally well-kept hair standing up in odd places, Emma was giving the man as much of a run as Cleo was giving him.<p>

Neil stopped the car and got out, he and Don sharing a look as he too leaned against the Sertori's car.

"Fun morning?" Don asked, and Neil merely looked at him and scoffed.

"5:30 in the morning, she wanted to get up. 5:30…" Neil mumbled, inhaling the morning air, thankful for the first moment of peace he'd had since he went to sleep last night.

Don scoffed. "At least Emma was awake. It took me ages just to get Cleo and the rest of the family out of bed. I've basically been working alone here."

"Well, at least the hard part is finished." Neil patted Don on the back and they shared an exhausted grin before leaning against the car once again, enjoying the last few precious minutes of rest they had before it was time to head out.

/ - / - / - / - / - / - /

"Ok, so have we got everything?" Emma asked as she and Cleo sat in Cleo's now-barren bedroom.

"I think so." Cleo replied, her eyes gliding around every inch of her room. She couldn't believe how different it looked. Looking around, the reality of the day was finally hitting her.

"We're really doing this, aren't we?" She looked toward Emma, and the blond nodded solemnly, knowing exactly what Cleo was asking.

"Yes, we are. I can't believe it, either. We've spent so many hours in this room. I'm really going to miss it."

Cleo could feel tears well in her eyes, but tried her best to push them back. There was no need to cry. This was a happy day for her and her friends and the start of new adventures for them. And although she knew she would miss the security of always being home, gaining a new sense of independence by going away to school was something she was looking forward to.

"Well," Cleo wiped at her eyes and stood, "we will just have to make new memories once we get to school."

Walking around, she picked up a notepad Emma had brought over. Being the more organized of the group, she made a series of checklists not only for herself, but for Cleo and Rikki as well to make sure they did not forget one single detail before officially heading off. Planning on rechecking the list one last time, they were interrupted by Cleo's door opening.

"Girls?" Cleo and Emma looked up to see Bev and Sam walking into Cleo's room. Bev walked toward Cleo and wrapped an arm around her while surveying the now fairly empty space of her daughter's bedroom.

"Come on, get a move on. Rikki has just arrived and we should be going. Do you both have everything in order?"

Both girls nodded and, with one last look, left the room and headed downstairs. Reaching the bottom, they saw Terry Chadwick sitting on the couch while Rikki was standing in the kitchen drinking a glass of water.

"There you guys are." Rikki said, smiling brightly as she saw her two best friends. "Are we ready to go?"

Cleo and Emma smiled back and walked toward her.

"Yeah, we're all set. You seem really excited for it to be 9:00 in the morning." Cleo teased before she and Emma offered a greeting to Rikki's father.

"Oh, I'm better than excited. I heard back from financial aid an hour ago. Turns out everything is in order and I have enough money for the entire year."

Cleo's eyes lit up and she offered Rikki a huge smile.

"That's wonderful, Rikki! I'm so happy for you."

"Not nearly as happy as we are." Terry stood and put an arm around Rikki's shoulders, giving them a tight squeeze. "Can't even believe it. My little Rikki, off to university…"

"Alright, dad. No need for all the warm fuzzies. We've got to be going now." She said sternly, but with a smile.

Emma and Cleo looked on, truly happy that everything worked out. Emma didn't know if Zane had anything to do with it or not, but if he did, she had to commend him on a job well done. This was something that even Rikki could not be angry at if Zane did happen to have a hand in it. As tempted as she was to text him to see, she suppressed the urge. She'd do it after the three of them settled down in their room.

Don, Neil, and Lisa walked in just then, and everyone turned to face them. After Rikki and Terry showed up, the two men had the pleasure of attaching Rikki's bags to the hood of the Gilbert's car, under the supervision of Lisa. Terry had wanted to help, but after hearing about Don and Neil's morning, he figured sitting inside and making sure Rikki and the girls were ready would be helpful enough.

"Alright, everything has been packed, and the gas tanks are completely full. Looks like we're ready to go."

"Hey, where's Lewis?" Rikki asked, shooting Cleo a confused look. "I thought for sure he'd be here."

"He really wishes he could be here, but he's already at the school. His professor needed his help on a project, so he moved in a few hours ago to beat the rush."

"Smart move." Neil whispered under his breath, causing Don and Terry to hold in their grins.

Rikki, having not noticed the comment, nodded at Cleo's explanation.

"So, we'll be riding with you then, Neil?" Terry asked, and Neil nodded. Considering the only reliable mode of transportation for the Chadwick's was Terry's bike, Rikki and her dad took a cab to the Sertori's in order to carpool. As much as Terry hated showing any type of weakness or reliance on others, they had no other choice. The phone call from financial aid that morning put him in such high spirits that he couldn't really be upset about anything that day.

"And I'll have Sam, Cleo, and Bev in my car." He looked at his watch. "What time do you need to be there, Cleo?"

"At 10 o'clock."

"Alright, we should get there in plenty of time. So let's get a move on."

Walking out of the house, everyone got into their respective cars and waited for Don to finish locking the doors before heading off.

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><p><strong>That's it for this chapter. Next chapter will be posted in the next 10 minutes. Please leave a review if you have time.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Here's that next chapter I promised. Next one will hopefully be on the way within the next week or so. Enjoy!

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><p>"May I ask what is in here, Cleo?" Don Sertori was red in the face from exhaustion. They'd made it to Melbourne without a hitch, and went to the front desk of their building to check into their room. Considering how quickly that task was completed, they thought moving the girls' things in would be just as smooth. However, as soon as they saw the ridiculously long lines in front of all of the elevators in the building, they knew their luck had run out. Having no other choice, they had to take the stairs to the girls' room on the 4th floor.<p>

Cleo called down, "That's the bag with Hector's new fish tank, dad!"

"Oh, how could I not have guessed that?" He said to himself as he took a deep breath and continued lugging the heavy bag stair by stair.

"Do you need some help with that, dear?" Sam asked as she came up the stairs beside him. She was carrying a bag with Cleo's bed linens, and set it aside to help her husband.

Bev was walking up just as Sam grabbed hold of the other side of the bag and began up the stairs again. Once the two made it to the next level, she picked up the linen bag and continued after them.

Neil and Terry were in the same boat as Don, breathing heavily as they made the long trek up to the 4th floor.

"You know, I wonder; what does she own that could ever be this heavy?" Terry asked aloud, truly curious.

"Would you believe me if I told you that it's the little things?" Neil commented, stopping briefly to wipe sweat from his brow. Leaning against the wall briefly, he continued, "It's all of the little things they've accumulated. All of clothes, shoes, jewelry…"

Terry's mouth hung open, and the disbelief on his face was so comedic that Neil couldn't help but grin. Terry shook his head and-with the same confused expression- looked from the bag back to the other man.

"I don't believe you."

Neil laughed, no longer able to contain himself, before continuing the slow journey up the stairs. "Believe it, my friend. I watched my daughter pack."

Terry nodded, the same look still on his face, and continued hoisting the bag up the stairs.

Meanwhile in the room, all of the girls were hard at work setting up their areas while excitedly chatting. Since everyone was moving in at the same time, all of the room doors were wide open, allowing Emma, Cleo and Rikki to interact with the people they would be sharing a floor with. While getting things settled, Emma even saw Byron pass by with his parents. Byron was one floor above them, but was also taking the stairs due to the elevator crowding.

After all of the bags made it up the stairs, it only took a few hours to get everything unpacked and set up. Due to the room having to accommodate all of their things, their parents agreed to bring all of the luggage back home with them in order to retain as much free space as possible. By the end of the unpacking, everyone took a step back to see the finished product.

Their room contained a set of bunk beds, one single bed, and three desks that stood up against the walls. Each girl had her own closet space, and there was a large window on the far wall overlooking the scenery outside. Deciding to rotate beds once a month, Cleo and Rikki were the first to share the bunks while Emma had the single bed. Emma's side of the room was completely reflective of her very organized personality. Her bed was neatly made, all of her clothes were on hangars in the closet, and her shoes were all on a rack on the closet floor. On her desk sat all of her school books, fresh notebooks and binders, as well as her laptop.

Cleo was on the bottom bunk, and she too had most of her things in order. She made it her personal mission to make sure Hector's tank was in working order before she did anything else, and it was proudly sitting on the high shelf of her desk, Hector swimming happily inside. Cleo's closet contained all of her clothes and shoes, as well as a plastic container that she placed her jewelry box upon. Her bed was made, but there was still one more unpacked bag on top of it that held all of her school books and supplies inside.

Rikki's side of the room wasn't nearly as pristine as Emma's, but she was quite happy with it. She attempted to make her bed nicely, but with the difficulty of being on the top bunk, decided to just make it look presentable under the pretense that it would just be messed up later anyway. Her desk only held her backpack and a few knickknacks. Because she just got her loan money, she had not gone school shopping with Emma and Cleo, so she would have to get the items later that day. But she did buy lights to put around the room to use at night, which all three were very excited about. Rikki's closet was a little disorganized, with clothes haphazardly put away, and shoes littering the closet floor, but it was nothing she couldn't fix later.

"It looks great, girls." Sam said, and the other parents nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it looks fantastic." Lisa commented, leaning over Emma's desk to straighten out a few papers that the wind from the open window had disrupted.

"We couldn't have done it without you. Thank you so much for your help, mum and dad." Emma said while walking up to hug her parents. Cleo and Rikki repeated the sentiments to their own parents, moving to hug them as well.

Don, who'd begun to get teary-eyed, broke the moment.

"Ah, well we'd best be going. I've got to take Bev back to her parents' house and get back to my boat to finish up some work."

"Yeah, I've also got some work to finish up." Terry agreed, and Neil nodded.

"Girls, call if you need anything." Lisa told them, giving them each a hug.

"We will, mum."

"And remember to lock your door at night, and to not stay up very late. It's not good for your complexions." She told them, and Neil laughed as he put his hands on his wife's shoulders.

"Now I know it's time for us to leave." Emma, Rikki and Cleo laughed at Lisa's sheepish smile.

"Call us when you get home, ok?" Cleo said, and the parents agreed before giving their children one last hug and walking toward the stairs. Once their voices could no longer be heard through the corridor, Emma, Rikki and Cleo walked back into their rooms, closing the door behind them.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was one of my favorites to write, partially because I based their room off one that I stayed at when I went to college. It was fun to relive memories. Please leave a review and let me know how you like it so far. <strong>

**[Disclaimer: I do own H2O: Just Add Water]**


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's the next chapter!**

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><p>"So…" Rikki said, climbing up to sit on top of her bed. "What should we do? Explore the building, maybe?"<p>

Emma smiled. "That's a great idea. It would be good to get to know people."

"Ah, you mean it would be good to see Byron. Don't think I don't know what you're up to, missy." Rikki laughed when a blush made its way to Emma's cheeks.

Emma sat back further on her bed, leaning back against the wall. "It would also be good to see where things are, like the restrooms and such. We've already seen the lobby downstairs."

"We should also look around to see where our classes will be." Cleo said while unzipping the bag that was on her bed and fishing out her class list. "Most of my classes are in the same two buildings, and…" She trailed off as she looked at the map on the opposite side of the page. "…they're only a few blocks away from here."

Growing curious, Rikki jumped from the top of her bed and went to rummage through her papers. Emma, following their lead, also went to get her schedule.

"It looks like I'll have to take a shuttle. My classes are much farther away." Rikki said while skimming through the page.

"My classes are split between three buildings. Only one is near here, and the rest are farther away." Emma put her schedule down. She'd already basically had it memorized, so there was no need to look through it any further.

"Shuttle buddies?" Rikki asked, and Emma smiled while offering the other blond a high-five.

They spent the next few minutes looking at the map while talking about which classes they would be taking. Cleo, after talking to Lewis that night in her room, officially decided she wanted to be an architect. And while at university, she also wanted to take history courses centering around ancient buildings. Rikki would be going into business, which came as no shock to Cleo or Emma. With running the café all last year with Zane, and seemingly making all of the better decisions in the business, she knew she had a knack for it and wanted to pursue it. And Emma, who'd been torn between sports medicine and international relations, decided on the latter. She already had the connections she would need through her travels with her family, and it would be a welcome challenge in her life. She'd considered sports medicine at one point, but almost immediately decided against it. No matter how great of an athlete she once was, there were too many risks involved in being that close to water.

"It looks like we're going to be very busy girls this year." Rikki commented, folding her schedule and placing it on top of her desk.

"Let's not also forget extracurricular activities. I've been researching, and they say having a healthy balance of school work and activities helps students." Emma told them, and Rikki looked at her incredulously.

"School hasn't even started and already you're researching? Unbelievable!" Rikki replied, but Emma was unphased.

"It's better to start thinking about this now. That way we'll be ahead."

"I don't think I'll be doing many activities. I don't know when I'll have the time between going to classes and working on the weekends." Cleo interjected, and Rikki nodded in agreement.

"Cleo's right. I'd almost forgotten that I'll be doing the same thing. I might have money for school, but that doesn't cover everything else I'll need."

"What else do you need to pay for?" Emma asked her, but Rikki shook her head.

"It's nothing anyone needs to worry about."

"Ok." Emma replied, and immediately changed the topic. "So, should we go look around now?"

Cleo and Rikki nodded, and all three stood up from their seats. Rikki, who had taken off her shoes at the start of the conversation, moved to put them back on while Emma and Cleo walked around the room toward the door.

"I think we should find something to eat after looking around here." Cleo said as she walked to open the door. Before reaching it, however, a knock interrupted her.

Opening the door, Cleo saw Lewis standing in front of her holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand.

"Hey guys. Welcome to university. I see you all have unpacked." He said, stepping inside briefly to look around the room. "It looks great in here."

"Thanks, Lewis." Cleo replied, and moved to give him a hug. He returned it, and immediately handed her the flowers.

"I bought these for you. I'm so sorry again that I couldn't be here to help you get settled in."

Cleo shook her head and smiled. "You don't have to apologize, Lewis. I understand. Thank you so much for these."

Cleo handed the bouquet to Emma for her to place on her bed and turned back to him. "How is your project coming along?"

"It's been going well. It's been going so well, in fact, that my professor doesn't need me in the lab again until tomorrow morning."

Cleo smiled, sincerely happy for him.

"I came here to ask if you'd like to have lunch with me."

"I'd love to." She turned around to face Emma and Rikki. "You guys don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not." Emma told her.

"Yeah, you two lovebirds go have fun. Em and I will be fine."

"Thanks you guys." Cleo said softly and turned back to face Lewis. He smiled at her and took her hand, and the two made their way out of the building.

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><p>Once they made it outside, Lewis lead Cleo to a small café a few blocks away. It was a secluded place that Cleo could tell was not usually overrun by a lot of people like the more popular café's closer to the school buildings. This café was surrounded by lush trees and bushes, with a few seating areas outside. The interior had a romantic element to it, with wooden furniture and candles atop every table. Lewis lead her upstairs, where the atmosphere was a little more private and chose a table in the center.<p>

"Wow." She said, looking around them. "This place is really nice."

"Yes, it is. I came across it while walking to the field station a few blocks away. This place has great food."

Just as he'd finished his sentence, a waitress walked over to their table. She was an older woman, and when she saw Cleo and Lewis she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

"Can I get you loves anything to start with, or will you need more time?"

"I think we're going to need more time, ma'am." Lewis answered for them, and the lady looked between them once again before telling them she would be back shortly. Being that the place was so informal, there were trays of menus sitting on the unused coffee table in the corner. Lewis got up to get two and sat at the table once again.

Picking up their menus, they flipped through, checking out all of the options.

The waitress came back a few minutes later.

"Have you both decided?"

Lewis looked to Cleo with a nod, urging her to go first.

"Yes, I'll have the lobster bisque and an ice tea." She said while looking up at the woman.

"And I'll have the turkey sandwich and an orange juice." Lewis said, and the woman nodded her head while still jotting down their orders.

"Alright. I'll be back shortly."

They thanked her as she left, then turned their attention back to one another.

"Have I mentioned how nice this place is?" Cleo playfully repeated with a smile, causing Lewis to laugh.

"Yes, I believe you have. As soon as I found this place, it made me think of you. I couldn't wait to take you here."

Reaching across the table, Cleo placed her hand on top of his.

"Well, it's perfect. Thank you." Her voice was low, and he kissed her hand in response.

Their food and drinks arrived soon after, and Cleo began telling him about her move in experience, and how nicely everything went.

"So Rikki and Emma are walking around right now?" Lewis asked before taking a bite out of his sandwich.

"Yeah. We'd already seen where our classes would be and everything from the school map and our schedules."

"What does your schedule look like this semester?"

"All of my classes are mainly early morning- around 8 or 9- and then I have a late class twice a week. What about you? I know you're still taking your classes from the marine biology institute, but you said you would also start taking university courses here, right?

"Yeah, but I won't start those for another semester. For now, I'm taking my normal school courses, and the rest of my time I'm working on Professor Jones' projects and working on a few of my own."

"Isn't that a lot of work, Lewis?" She frowned. She already knew university was going to be different for them. They wouldn't be able to see one another nearly as much as they had in high school, but with all of the work he had on his plate, she was worried that they would barely see each other at all.

Lewis saw the worry on her face and gave her a reassuring look.

"It seems like a lot, but it's really not Cleo. I'm only taking 3 classes this semester, and then I'll have to spend a few hours a day working on my projects. It's just going to take some getting used to. I guarantee that in a few weeks, it'll all be alright."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. It's just all so overwhelming right now."

He nodded in understanding, knowing exactly how she was feeling. When he arrived in America to attend the institute, he didn't think he would ever be able to adapt to being in a new place and adjusting to his new workload. It was hard at first, but within a few weeks he had gotten used to everything. The only thing he regretted was that he and Cleo's communication was reduced to emails and short phone calls, which he knew put a strain on both their nerves.

"I've got an idea." She said suddenly. Startling him out of his thoughts, he looked at her.

"What is it?" He asked attentively, growing excited by the look of joy on her face.

"Why don't we have a date night? Like, one day of the week where we do something together?

"I think that's a great idea, Cleo. No work, no obligations. That way, even if we can't see one another for a while, we know we have that one day to look forward to."

"And it'll just be the two of us, and we can each take turns picking what we'll do."

"Well that sounds like a plan." Holding his hand out to hers, she shook it. Both returned to their food and talked until they decided to leave.

* * *

><p><strong>Hope you enjoyed. Leave me a review and tell me what you think. I hope to have the next chapter out soon.<strong>


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